Many stringed instruments, such as the guitar, rely upon the positioning of fingers upon the frets to enable a particular note to be played. However, positioning fingers upon successive frets along a string does not play a major scale but instead would be the equivalent of playing successive keys on a keyboard, for example, C C.music-sharp./D.music-flat. D.music-sharp./E.music-flat. E F etc.
Furthermore, while the sequence is the same for all strings, the position of corresponding notes on adjacent strings do not lie on the same fret. Consequently, part of the skill in playing a stringed instrument such as the guitar is remembering the position of fingers on frets corresponding to the notes. This can be difficult for beginners and the problem is compounded when chords, comprising several notes, must be played.
As a musician progresses, it may also be desirable to perform musical pieces in other than a major scale (e.g., melodic minor, harmonic minor, pentatonic, diminished, etc.) and in the various modes thereof (e.g., Dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, aeolian and locrian). Determining these scales, let alone the finger positioning, can be difficult for any musical instrument and can result in considerable effort by the musician.
It is also common practice to transpose the key of musical pieces. Similarly, the process of transposing a piece of music into another key can be tedious and for stringed instruments such as the guitar, different fingering must also be learned. The problems also arise for other instruments in which the position of the fingers affect the note being played.
To date, the applicant is not aware of any apparatus or devices which can simplify the task of indicating finger positioning, determining various scales and chords and variations thereof, transposing keys or various musical computations. Typically, to perform these functions a person must manually calculate the required operations, much in the same manner as a person performing mathematical sums with a pen and paper--there is no musical abacus or slide rule to aid the musician. Further, due to the relationship between musical notes, their sequence and relationship does not make them analogous to normal mathematical relationships. Furthermore, the desired functions (such as key transposition) do not have a direct analogy in normal base-10 mathematical operations.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems and to provide an apparatus which can aid the musician, or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.